U.S. DOT truck safety plan attacked as vague, too soft

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May. 28) — U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater’s conservative approach to fixing problems of truck safety — that truck safety oversight remain with the Federal Highway Administration — drew a sharp reaction from Capitol Hill.

Slater’s approach, announced earlier this week, includes numerous enforcement and regulatory actions and aims to reduce truck-related fatalities by 50% in the next decade.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said Slater gave “merely” a broad overview of DOT goals. The Transportation Secretary did not offer a clear position on organizational structure, or detailed actions to address the safety program’s shortcomings, McCain said.

Rep. Bud Shuster, R-PA, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, also took a dim view of the DOT plan.

“Everyone except the Dept. of Transportation concludes that the current placement of the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety handicaps its performance,” he said. The federal highway administrator has too many things on his plate to effectively handle the safety office as well, he added.

Meantime, the chairman of the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee vowed to withhold funding for the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety until he sees significant reforms in the federal truck safety program.

At a markup hearing on fiscal year 2000 appropriations for the Department of Transportation, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said, “I will force the issue so Congress does not go home this fiscal year without action.”

An aide indicated that Wolf is not inclined to support the idea put forward by Norman Mineta this week, to elevate safety to equal status with highways in a Federal Highway and Motor Carrier Administration.

Wolf remains convinced that the motor carrier safety program must be removed from the Federal Highway Administration before it can be effective.